As we near our SDA probation’s close, the thought occurred that some truth seekers may be able to join our Sabbath studies we have every Sabbath. The Word says —
“Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Tim: 2:15)
It is important we continue to study and do more study, why? Let us read —
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.” (Hosea 4:6)
Meeting info —
Date: Every Sabbath Time: 1 pm Western, 3 pm Central, 4 pm Eastern (USA time) Subject: Bible studies on prophecy, health studies, testimonies, questions and answers
Login: by computer or handheld : brotharrison By phone: 951-981-7783 or 605-313-4492
Today’s study (April 29) and program is as follows:
1) Testimony by a Russian sister who accepted the message of the hour 2) Health presentation
3) Main Bible study “Current events and Bible prophecy”
For those who cannot make the live presentation, we will add a recording link later on this post, so check back again.
We are inviting you to join their FreeConferenceCall Meeting Room.
“And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brasen altar. And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon He was, to the threshold of the house. And He called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer’s inkhorn by his side; and the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
“And to the others He said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.” Ezek. 9:2-6.
Here the people are shown to be in a mixed state (tares and wheat commingled), with the time just ahead of them when on the one hand those who have sighed and cried for the abominations in their midst shall receive the mark of deliverance, while on the other hand those who have
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not sighed and cried shall be left without the mark, to perish (in their sins) under the angels’ slaughter weapons.
From this separation — the one in the church — come forth the first fruits.
Then follows the separation from among the nations, as seen in the parable of Matthew 25, prophetically describing Christ’s coming, though not the one viewed in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17, for at the time of the latter, “the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air”; whereas at the time of the former, “when the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory [the kingdom-church, which up to this point consists only of the first fruits].
“And before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand [these being the second fruits], Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world….Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into
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everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” Matt. 25:31-34, 41.
From this separation — the one among the nations — come forth the second fruits.
The angels who are round about the throne in the heavenly sanctuary during the judgment of Daniel 7:9, 10 and of Revelation 5:11 shall, as the parables explain, descend with “the Son of man” when He comes “to His temple” (His church) to separate by judgment “the wicked from among the just,” and to purge as gold and silver those “who may abide the day of His coming…that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.” Mal. 3:2, 3.
In graphic demonstration that He will come to earth with all His angels to execute judgment upon the living, the Lord revealed Himself prophetically to Ezekiel as being brought enthroned to earth by four living creatures just before the slaughter of the hypocrites in the church takes place. And as each of the living creatures has the face of a lion, the face of a calf, the face of a man, and the face of an eagle (Ezek. 1:10), — the same judicial insignia as have the beasts who are before the throne in the heavenly sanctuary (Rev. 4:7) in the time of the judgment of the dead, — and as they descend to earth, they thereby symbolically show that the work of the mediatorial-judicial throne which convenes and
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presides over the judgment of the dead is extended to earth.
This extension, so far as we are able to know now, must take place at the opening of the seventh seal (Rev. 8:1), for at that time the celestial voices, which opened the judgment of the dead, cease in the heavenly sanctuary and begin, after the half hour’s silence, to sound on earth. In other words, just as in heaven at the opening of the judgment of the dead, there were “lightnings and thunderings and voices” (Rev. 4:5), likewise on earth at the opening of the “judgment of the living,” there are “voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.” Rev. 8:5.
With the judgment of the dead, however, the work of separation takes place in the books in the heavenly sanctuary; whereas with the judgment of the living, the separation takes place among the people in the church as well as among their names in the books in the heavenly sanctuary, thus showing that both sanctuaries will finally be cleansed.
Inescapably, therefore, the Lord’s coming to His temple (Mal. 3:1-3), His coming with all His angels (Matt. 25), and His coming enthroned above the living creatures (Ezek. 1), — all three representing the same event as has been shown, — take place at the beginning of the judgment of the living: the time in which the judicial activities of the heavenly sanctuary
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extend to the earthly sanctuary — the church.
“And I looked, and behold a white cloud,” exclaimed John the Revelator, envisaging the same coming variously described by Malachi, Matthew, and Ezekiel, “and upon the cloud One sat like unto the Son of man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in Thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for Thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And He that sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.” Rev. 14:14-16.
This coming of the Son of man is plainly, therefore, not when the resurrected and the living righteous are caught up together to meet Him in the air: for verses 17-20, following the ones quoted in the paragraph above, reveal that after He came and reaped the earth, “another angel…having a sharp sickle” came and reaped a second harvest before the wrath of God — the seven last plagues (Rev. 15:1) — was poured out upon the wicked.
Thus again and for the fourth time it is seen that there are two different comings of the Son of man: the one to “sever the wicked from among the just” in the church (Matt. 13:49), and then immediately to call the just from among the wicked in
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Babylon (Rev. 18:4); the other to take the saints, both the resurrected and the living, to the mansions which He has prepared for them (1 Thess. 4:16; John 14:1-3).
TEXT OF ADDRESS BY V.T. HOUTEFF, MINISTER OF DAVIDIAN 7TH-DAY ADVENTISTS SABBATH, APRIL 12, 1947 MT. CARMEL CHAPEL WACO, TEXAS
TEXT FOR PRAYER
The Narrow, Upward Road
I shall read from “The Mount of Blessing,” beginning on page 198 with the second paragraph:
“The narrow, upward road leading to home and rest, furnished Jesus with an impressive figure of the Christian way. The path which I have set before you, He said, is narrow; the gate is difficult of entrance; for the golden rule excludes all pride and self-seeking. There is, indeed, a wider road; but its end is destruction. If you would climb the path of spiritual life, you must constantly ascend; for it is an upward way. You must go with the few; for the multitude will choose the downward path.
“In the road to death the whole race may go, with all their worldliness, all their selfishness, all their pride, dishonesty, and moral debasement. There is room for every man’s opinions and doctrines, space to follow his inclinations, to do whatever his self-love may dictate. In order to go in the path that leads to destruction, there is no need of searching for the way; for the gate is wide, and the way is broad, and the feet naturally turn into the path that ends in death.”
We should pray for power to enable us to turn aside from the broad path, from following self — the path in which we find ourselves from birth up. We should pray to choose the narrow path with the few, to know for a certainty that only the narrow, upward way leads to home and to peace.
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“COMFORT YE, COMFORT YE, MY PEOPLE”
Last week we finished studying the thirty-fifth chapter of the book of Isaiah. And now since, as can be readily seen, chapters 36-39 inclusive, interrupt with historical data the theme of Isaiah’s prophecy, we shall continue where Inspiration picks up the thread of thought in chapter 40 with a tender plea to God’s message-bearing people:
Isa. 40:1, 2 — “Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.”
Verse 2 leaves no doubt that Inspiration is speaking to a people in the latter days, — the days in which the warfare, pilgrimage, and captivity of God’s weary people are accomplished. Having received double for their sin and rebellion, their iniquity is pardoned and are now soon to be delivered. You cannot afford to overlook this comforting message. You must not neglect to make ready, for that is the reason that it is now unsealed and freely delivered to you. Prepare to meet thy God is its key note.
Isa. 40:3 — “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”
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True, verse three found fulfillment in the work of John the Baptist; but the verses preceding and also the verses following, definitely apply to the people in the latter days and only partially to the people in John’s day. Therefore the truth stands out boldly that the direct fulfillment of this chapter is found in our time, thus making John’s work an ensample of our work — John’s work the type, ours the antitype.
The “wilderness” and the “desert” (Isa. 40:3) in contrast to the “vineyard,” the house of Judah literally and antitypically says: “The voice of him that crieth in the land of the Gentiles, that says, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the Gentile world a highway for our God.”
Isa. 40:4 — “Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain.”
To make this highway straight, “the voice” is, as it were, to raise up the valleys, cut through the mountains and hills, and grind down the rough places; that is, every obstruction must and will be removed, the saints must be gathered regardless where they live.
Isa. 40:5 — “And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”
This shall come to pass as soon as the highway is made ready.
Isa. 40:6-8 — “The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: the grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the Spirit of the Lord
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bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the Word of our God shall stand for ever.”
“The voice” proclaims that all are grass, that all the goodliness in men is as the flowers of the field, but the Word of God stands forever. It must be, then, that men are blind to these realities, else they would not need be reminded of them. It must be that they are depending upon flesh, instead of upon the Word of God and His Spirit.
Isa. 40:9-11 — “O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him: behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.”
The message which this chapter contains, we see, is not a message to be preached to the world, but to the cities of antitypical Judah, the church. And those who proclaim it are citizens of antitypical Zion and Jerusalem, members of the church. They are fearlessly to lift up their voices with strength.
They are to explain that the people whom God uses to get His work done are “His arm”; that they are to rule for Him; that His reward is with Him, and His work yet before Him; that He shall feed His flock, and with His arm (with His church) He shall gather the lambs (the newly converted) and carry them to His kingdom.
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Isa. 40:12-20 — “Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being His counsellor hath taught Him? With whom took He counsel, and who instructed Him, and taught Him in the path of judgment, and taught Him knowledge, and shewed to Him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, He taketh up the isles as a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before Him are as nothing; and they are counted to Him less than nothing, and vanity. To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto Him? The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains. He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.”
Those who are ignorant of God liken Him to something. But the great question is, to what are we likening Him — to something though there is no comparison of Him?
Isa. 40:21-26 — “Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: that bringeth the princes to nothing; He maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be
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sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and He shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. To whom then will ye liken Me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold Who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: He calleth them all by names by the greatness of His might, for that He is strong in power; not one faileth.”
O, how great a God our God is! And how slow we are to grasp His promises. How slow we are to let Him take full charge of us just as He has charge of the stars.
Isa. 40:27 — “Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God?”
Obviously God’s people are mistaken concerning His knowledge of their ways.
Isa. 40:28-31 — “Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of His understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
These verses explain that God’s people need to know all these things before they earn the right to
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walk into His Holy Kingdom. And what a wonderful privilege is ours if we but wait on the Lord, if we but remain true and faithful to His Word. Then He shall renew our strength like the eagles; we shall run, and not be weary; we shall walk and not faint.
As the great and dreadful day of the Lord is fast approaching, and as we are already told what to do to make ready, we need not be found wanting. “Surely His salvation is nigh them that fear Him; that glory may dwell in our land…. Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase. Righteousness shall go before Him; and shall set us in the way of His steps.” Ps. 85:9-12.
What a comforting message this is! Any wonder why the Almighty urgingly commands: “Comfort ye, comfort ye, My people.”
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